The Brave Sir Fate & other interesting ideas

FateAscends

So I've recently gotten back into BGEE1&2 on the switch. The drive controls are awesome for solo play and pretty good for groups. Another level of immersion is really cool. Aside from a few console specific limitations on the switch I'm having a lot of fun. I'm limited to in-game glitches and import tricks as my only way of "breaking" the game, so its kinda cool. No ee-keeper or cheat consoles make it a neat little Baldur's Gate sandbox to play in.

So I've had a few ideas for playthroughs I want to attempt but I had a few questions...

The main concept I've been mulling over is The Brave Sir Fate and his minstrels, kinda like The Brave Sir Robin from monty python. So it'd be a solo paladin followed by each bard type, and all they would do is auto defensive buff themselves and sing, while the paladin fights. So. I read somewhere something about bard songs not stacking any more, but only if they are the same type. I suppose I'd go Paladin Protagonist, Bard, Blade, Jester, Skald. I think the blade would be kinda useless in this scenario until he gets the ability to take HLA bard song, and then I'd have all 4 unique songs being sung at once, correct? Perhaps near the end of ToB the minstrels could mislead or sim and actually help in combat while their doubles sing? What would be the best paladin type for this concept? Undead Hunter seems like the one to go for the best immunity stacking if I'm not mistaken? Any ideas or corrections to this concept would be greatly appreciated.

Next I have a CE archer run going, using the helm of opposite alignment and girdle of gender change trick to swap him from LG to CE but he still becomes a fallen archer if I drop to despised rep. Apparently I can still GM in shortbows while fallen archer, so I had a few questions. During a certain part of BG2 there is an alignment shift, will it change my alignment at all, since I'm already CE? Also should I just attempt the fallen archer run, and how much harder would that be come SoA/ToB? I'm right in assuming its basically just a kneecapped fighter right?

So with all those questions I'd also like to see if anyone else has interesting party comp ideas or in-game glitches I could use to make something neat outside-the-sandbox runs, so to speak.

sarevok57

personally i think cavaliers are better than undead hunters, but at the end of the day, its kind of meh to be honest,

although ironically a cavalier would be the exact opposite of sir robin to be honest since he is actually a coward hahaha, unless that is what you are going for; absolute irony

when it comes to the helm of opposite alignment, it does not change the prerequisites for becoming fallen, all the opposite alignment does is make it so you can use items that can't be used by good characters, now since you are lawful good, im pretty sure the helm should change you to lawful evil

when you do the hell trials and if you even choose 1 evil path you will be swapped over to lawful evil, become fallen and then even if you somehow still had the helm on ( which as far as i know doesn't exist in bg2 ) you would be "lawful good" thanks to the helm but you wouldn't lose the fallen status, and as you said; becoming a kneecapped fighter, yup, not only are you going to lose all ranger abilities but now you are basically going to be a watered down fighter who requires more XP to grow up levels for crappier proficiencies

when it comes to interesting party ideas i just played one where it had 3 cavaliers 1 cleric/mage, 1 thief/mage and 1 sorcerer, it was pretty fun, and that run i found out that the mage's planetar is damn strong and kind of blew me away, having a vorpal weapon with insane regen, was quite surprised

jmerry

Definitely not a cavalier for the party with bards. You've got multiple instances of fear immunity from the bard songs already. Undead Hunter does seem like the best choice mechanically.

Incidentally, while blade song has the same effects as the low-level vanilla bard song, it's technically different and the luck bonuses will stack. It's still the one that you replace with enhanced bard song, of course.

The Helm of Opposite Alignment exists in the BG2 files, but can't be found in-game. Giving it to a character is still an option.

Other run ideas ... I do themed runs all the time. Some of them:

- The all-werewolf party. Exploiting a mod bug; it turned shapeshift abilities into tokens for at-will transformations, and then didn't restrict the allowed classes on them as much as it should. So then, one shapeshifter druid could infect a whole party - any druid, monk, shaman, or rogue with UAI could use the tokens. Completed, and reported in the playthroughs forum.
- Variety shapeshifting; get some arcane casters with Polymorph Self, some druid shapeshifting, the Big Metal Unit ... it's morphing time. When you get those statues in Trademeet of all your different monstrous forms, it's all worth it. Abandoned due to excessive crashing; the portion I finished was reported in the playthroughs forum. (The patch notes for the upcoming version 2.6 include that one crash associated with shapeshifting is fixed. It's a start.)
- A small party: dwarves, gnomes, and halflings only, at least for long-term use. Started, abandoned because I was more interested in other ideas.
- The dukes can handle it: Get some of those vastly overleveled friendly NPCs as your party for BG1 and crush all opposition. Very quick to play, though of course it needs the roleplaying hook to really work. I went with Entar Silvershield looking for his missing son as the initial plot driver. Finished and posted.
- Illiterates: None of them can read, because their intelligence scores are all 8 or less. The Dragon Disciple (only possible illiterate arcane caster) has a familiar, which is more intelligent than any of the proper party members. Not yet started.
- The Paladin way: LG Priest of Tyr dual-classed to fighter, Sir Anomen, Keldorn, Mazzy ... basically, as many different takes on the paladin ideal as you can possibly fit into a party. Not yet started.
- Dorn as protagonist. Full evil, of course. Not yet started.
- No spellcasting. Never cast an arcane or divine spell - although characters with spellcasting classes are allowed in the party. Completed, posting in progress.
- Firepower. A Dragon Disciple protagonist leading a fire-immune party. Unleash all those party-unfriendly fire spells to incinerate all opposition in a blaze of glory. Up next.

Incidentally, I build with the in-game NPCs as much as possible; none of these concepts has more than two initial player characters.